Chronicles of a Data Junkie
by CreedKeeper
Summary: Not every person trapped in Aincrad is a loner or pessimist, some just want to enjoy figuring out how the world works. The self proclaimed Chronicler works to improve general sanity with the help of Argo the Rat. OC journey entirely within canon focusing on mechanics and psychology.
1. Chronicle 1

Autumn Fire

What a world... It really was amazing the sheer level of detail Kayaba had managed to incorporate. Not only from visuals, but the sounds had such an acute blend, from the soft crunch of grass underfoot and the shuffling of virtual fabric to the sharp squealing grunts and vicious snorts of the boars attacking. Oh... yeah, that was probably important. Ahrina opened her eyes with a wry grin, already dancing away from the beast's charge. She let it rage, marveling at the expression and sensation of the fight as she toyed with the boar with her blade, shifting its charges subtly rather than striking back with any force. The practice sword beginners were given felt coarse in her hand and was hardly strong enough to make much of an impact on its own, even against such a low level monster. Even so... Ahrina flipped the blade in her hand and avoided another head on charge, letting the sword take on a light glow as it reached a proper strike position. She allowed the unfamiliar sensation to take over, striking forward across its back with a Horizontal strike.

The boar let out an angered squeal of protest as the bar above its head shrunk to red. Another charge proved as fruitless as the first and another strike was the last as the boar shattered into a thousand particles, ever shifting blue dust effervescently fading before anything could reach it. Absolutely beautiful. Ahrina absentmindedly acknowledged a notification for another tusk added to her inventory and reaching level 2 with the same enthusiasm, still occupied with the scene before her.

Faint clashes of iron and hide reached her ears from nearby battles, others embracing the first taste of combat this world would offer. Rolling hills gently surrounded the town, covered in a sounder of boars, each spread out just enough to allow some singularity of combat, but close enough to allow for accidents or group charges and to prevent any easy way out without combat. A handful of other players joined her there, each fighting with enthusiasm and vigor. There certainly was a thrill in it, she supposed. So much energy had to have gone into this creation, and in turn so much energy would be given back. Heh... Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe they knew something she didn't that led to such natural passion for the world rather than an affected confidence covering nonchalance. Such joy, such sorrow... getting so worked up over every little thing... People always spent so much energy on the world with useless reactions that didn't change anything, but maybe the reaction itself was the point. Even if it wasn't productive, maybe the reaction was worth it. Well, it did make things interesting. And if anything deserved such implicit admiration, it was the intricacy the programmers had worked into this game. Even from the beginning the painstaking effort toward realism built into the mechanics and effort made for replication and innovation were obvious.

Ahrina headed back to town, ready to turn in proof of her conquest. A few cor were well worth the trouble, and selling the vendor trash goods provided a decent bundle for the first upgrades. Finding a nearby blacksmith she tried out every weapon in the store for her level, narrowing down a selection from broadswords and dagger until she found a reasonably priced mid length Cutlass. It was nothing remarkable stat wise, but a fair sight better than the starter sword and would serve until she chose an actual style to go after, the curved blade already being a preference. Armor could wait until later, she had plenty of time to decide what she wanted. A walk around town seemed more useful at the moment, as getting familiar with the territory usually was. There was an inn, a church, tailor, blacksmith, restaurant, main square, castle... There were even sewers with actual rats. All in all it seemed larger than she'd expected, perhaps because of the wide roads, and she found different NPCs actually competing with each other subtly by selling similar goods at slightly different prices. There was a guard at the castle yard willing to give a tutorial on various sword skills with the right dialogue options and the apothecary had what appeared to be a repeatable quest, trading various herbs she'd never heard of for low level health potions. As the church had been a dead end as far as healing, resurrection, detoxing, and decursing had been concerned (not entirely surprising due to the lack of magic in the game but still a disappointment) that quest became a top priority. This was in part because she was a cheapskate and those crystals at the general store were incredibly expensive. Okay, mostly because of that. It was interesting to note that the general store actually had higher prices than the specialty stores. Not significantly so, but while it had more types of items, it had a smaller selection of each all at slightly higher than they would have cost while bought separately. It was quite a business model, actually, relying on laziness and convenience.

Strangely, though, as soon as she tried to head out of town again to search for the herbs there was an odd bell chime and she was surrounded by a blue light before appearing in the middle of the gigantic square. Ahrina wasn't the only one. The central area did not feel large for long as it was filled with thousands and thousands of other players, likely all 10,000 that had begun the game that day. That was... a lot of people. A hell of a lot of people. Strangers and strangers and- none of them looked very happy, actually. She overheard a few frustrated conversations mumbling about not being able to log out or grumbling about stupid bugs and refunds for inconvenience. Others seemed to be laughing it off or pissed off that their time was being wasted, while a few oddballs seemed bubbly and looking forward to whatever opening ceremony was planned. Mostly, though, the crowd was confused, and no one seemed to have any answers.

The answers weren't ones they wanted to hear, anyway. Kayaba appeared as an avatar of darkness, a bloody lord of cloaked mysteries overlooking the players like they were mere dolls or playthings to his godly form. He corrected patiently that being unable to log out was not a bug, merely a fact of life. They were trapped. It was a simple design feature, like that wasn't a loaded term in itself. To be stuck inside a virtual world forever with only one life... honestly, that didn't sound too bad. Well, it would certainly be bad/sad/whatever if people died, but, really, that's an issue with /death/ being a negative thing, not the mechanic itself. As long as nothing was actively hunting people down and trying to kill them off, it seemed like an extra incentive to take a look at immersive functions within the game itself and take threats seriously.

The nerve gear manipulation, though... now that was interesting. She had been following his notes on the structure for manipulation of perceptual awareness and the device shouldn't be capable of such a thing. While it had the power to create the charge necessary to fry the associative neurons binding consciousness with the battery strength alone, there were supposedly safeties built into every step of immersion created by different companies, some of which Kayaba would have no involvement with. It was a stipulation of the virtual reality machines ever getting public approval, after all. Absentmindedly she noted cries of disbelief go up all around her as people seemed determined to call Kayaba out for trolling them.

The real troubling part of his speech, though... Their bodies were off in the outside world unprotected, and if someone got them killed before they ever got the chance to live here, that would be the real tragedy. Absolute loss of control. Other than that, it seemed a fair deal to Ahrina. Trade one life of an unemployed new graduate for that of an adventurer. Isn't that what they all wanted anyway? Why else would someone play one of these games if not to find a new path to follow, if only for a little while? Ahrina allowed a small smile to cross her lips before being jolted out of her thoughts by an outraged shout.

"Stop fucking around! What kind of sick joke is this? We're all going to die? Yeah, right!"

"D-don't... Don't do this to us! I have a family! A job!"

Ah, right. Family. Friends. Those were also important. Apparently this speech was bad news. Okay. As Kayaba assured them he was telling the truth, Ahrina's mind went into overdrive. If this was the current state of things, the first few moments would be vital, particularly if people were reacting so poorly. Crowds were full of people, and people were stupid. And if they weren't going to take things seriously even if they didn't believe him, they'd likely all get themselves killed unless they acknowledged this world as the current reality and didn't randomly decide to throw away all laws and common sense. Yeah... she had no faith in that. So much for her plans to take it easy as a reckless solo casual. The stakes were a bit too high for that sort of fun. Time to resurrect a very different persona. Her stance shifted to one of unwavering confidence as Kayaba announced a gift being placed in their inventories. To her annoyance, hair changed from blood red to a golden brown with the mirror's effects, what was unmistakably her own face staring back at her from within the glass. Ah, well. Surely there'd be in game customization to fix that back later at some virtual barber. In any case, now that Kayaba was finished, the crowd was starting to panic. Well, more than they were already. Time to put on a show.

A large man beside her was staring at his hands and shaking, a good first target. Ahrina slapped a hand on his shoulder suddenly and forced him to meet her eyes. "I'm Ahrina, the chronicler and data junkie, and I care if you live or die. Add me?" Exuding straight forward confidence, he moved to accept the friend request almost without thought, automatically following the order as he mumbled a simple "W-what...?" after she'd already moved on. Mordecai, check.

A small woman with mousey brown hair. "I'm Ahrina, the chronicler and data junkie, and I care if you live or die. Add me." Vilonette, check.

A teenage boy with a bad dye job. Speedemon, check. A nervous man with a mustache. Finesse, check. A teenage girl who wouldn't stop screaming even as she accepted the request. Melodycalls, check. A twitchy guy about her age. Nostalgia, check. Each accepted without real acknowledgment, still caught up in themselves and their own thoughts. It was not enough. Some people were starting to leave at this point, either at a run or slinking off. Escalate.

Looking around quickly she spied a crate against the wall as the highest convenient vantage point. Climbing on it quickly she whistled as loudly as the system would allow, reaching an obnoxiously attention grabbing pitch as it was amplified through the ears of those inside the stadium. Clearing her throat as a good portion of the crowd clutched their ears and turned toward her, she began.

"Excuse me, if I can have your attention please! I am Ahrina, a chronicler and data junkie, and I care whether you live or die. There will be a basic combat introduction an hour from now in the castle courtyard followed by a talk on strategy games, basic tips, and random things I've found out thus far. Now! More importantly, I want to know you. I want to know who you are, what you can do. I want to watch your path and tell your tale. I want to know who is doing what, when, where, and how well. I want to keep track of you and, more importantly to you I'm sure, I want to be able to connect you to other people as well if you need it. Need a blacksmith? I want to help you out. Need someone on the 5th floor to group with? I want to know who else is looking so I can tell you! Clear a dungeon and escape a particularly perilous trap? Let me know and I'll spread the word, telling your exploits around Aincrad and warning other people where to watch out. The worst thing you can do right now is think you are alone in this. Look around! Everyone here is in the same boat, so take a minute and make some contacts. Talk to someone, add a friend, and find something in the present to latch on to instead of going off and despairing in your own head. I'll be here and I want to know you."

Ahrina let out a sigh of relief at the end of her impromptu speech as she looked around and saw that quite a few were still a captive audience. A dozen or so requests popped up in her vision which she accepted with an easy grin. This hadn't exactly been her plan, but it would certainly do. Knowledge was power, and when it comes to life and death, power was everything. Plenty of people would be going off to gain experience this early on, particularly if they were smart or had been a part of the beta. If she could organize people here first into a more productive form, that would help everyone out by having fewer depressing wastes of players hanging around and more actually trying to win this game or flesh out reality with the spice of liveliness. God forbid she get stuck in a world where everyone acted like a panicking downer after the first little hiccup. It was bad enough she'd have to give up her usual reckless release of energy, dying in games in the name of fun, in order to play it smart and keep track of everything within the game without her graphs and charts for her usual data sets. Software and websites made her hobby much easier, but it looks like she'd be doing most of this mentally along with whatever note taking functions the system allowed. That... should probably be her next step for research. Research! Wait, no, that should wait.

Hopping off the crate, she greeted the group nearest her and held out her hand to shake. "Ahrina. And you are?" "Fallen." "Rachel." "Navi." "I'm Yoko!" "Great! Glad to see some enthusiasm here." Sending out contact requests, she could definitely see that not everyone was looking as optimistic about their future here, but they all looked considerably calmer than a moment before, if a bit... angry.

"Hey! Why the hell should any of us listen to you? You're stuck here too, right? Or are you some kind of fucking Kayaba plant?"

"Oh, nothing like that. And you can feel free to leave at any time. You don't have to listen to anyone if you don't want to, technically, so feel free to waste away inside a little antisocial aggressive bubble if you'd like. The only advantage I have that makes me worth listening to at all yet is force of personality and obsessive experience with game data categorization. So why not let me help you? Got any pressing plans, places to be, hot date?"

The last question got a morbid snicker from someone behind her, likely because of how in bad taste it was to joke about the cause of his ire. Oh well. At least someone thought it was funny.

Turning to greet them, Ahrina was caught off guard by a sudden hug. "Well aren't you just going to make my job easier, Ahrini! I want a list of your friends list later, it'll be good to keep track of who is around. We'll talk." Done squeezing the life from her, the smaller girl waltzed off without a word, leaving a friend request behind her with a single word, "Argo". Good to see someone appreciated it. Maybe this would work out after all. About 50 people had stuck around at this point, a miniscule fraction compared to the thousands in the game, but a much more manageable fraction. Moving to the more skittish looking ones first and those around the edges, she collected name after name, expanding her contacts rapidly.

"Okay! I'm heading over to the castle yard now and I encourage all of you to join me. Let's get some basics of combat down and not stab ourselves in the feet!" Which she certainly had never done, particularly the first time someone had handed her a blade without seeing if she was paying attention. Not looking back to see if anyone bothered following, she made her way to the castle yard, stopping twice along the way to introduce herself with her new catch phrase and drag along some dead eyed soul.

It was a relief to find a few people there already, a half dozen or so she vaguely remembered seeing around the square who stood proving that someone was paying attention to her, even if she hadn't talked to them individually yet. Ahrina gave the usual introduction to the small group and a shortened spiel about her goals while waiting for more to arrive. Specter. Ramses. Mockingbird. Everafter. Khaoticone. Jesuit. Six more people to keep track of.

When the group reached around 20, she got everyone's attention and motioned to the guard of the yard. "Okay! First thing I've found out is that normal attacks do very little in this game, chump change for damage. If you want to hurt any of the mobs you'll need to use the sword arts this game is named for. I'll leave it to the expert to explain further."

Hypocritically, Ahrina tuned out the NPC as it gave the generic introduction to sword skills and basic attacks she had found earlier, choosing instead to survey the small crowd. Determined faces stared at him, taking in the demonstration of attacks as if it were a life line. Perhaps it was. These were people who were told they could be killed at any time and were then offered a way to protect themselves from it. More than that, they chose to be here. They chose to make the effort despite any hesitation they might have had. These were people who were willing to work and fight to save themselves even if they didn't know how. She could work with this. There was no point trying to help anyone if there weren't those willing to take the first step.

As the guard finished his explanation Ahrina took her place in front again. "Any questions before we continue? There are training dummies to your right and the sword skills will activate nearly automatically when you get in the right position, though you might do more damage and have some control of your attack if you go through with the motion on your end as well without relying on the system entirely. Make sure you have the [One handed swords] skill equipped before you start."

"What if we don't want to hit anything? I don't want to hurt anyone here, I just want to go home." EverAfter protested.

"Well, that's an option too and there are lots of ways you could go about being productive without combat. However, fact of the matter is that there will likely come a time where you need to defend yourself and these skills will save your life someday soon. And please keep in mind that the animals and monsters you are facing are particles and bits of data, not actual living beings."

This startled the woman, who had perhaps been thinking of killing things in game as being as bad as she herself being killed. (Though when all were made of bits and data, relative morality was probably not the best topic to debate at the moment.)

"But more importantly, I think you bring up a good point! Defense is as important as offense here, right?" She continued after seeing a nod. "Well, in combat I can think of four different types of defense, really. The first three are dodging, parrying, and blocking. Dodging is ideal because if you don't take hits you won't take any damage, but there are times you won't be able to do that no matter how much you practice. If you parry a blow, you deflect it by hitting it with your own weapon and changing the trajectory for where it hits. For blocking, you'll take the hit but with your weapon or shield instead of your body and take less damage than otherwise. All three of these are active forms of defense you'll need to be paying attention to for and working to improve. I'm guessing stat wise you would want to get higher strength for parrying and blocking, higher health and durability for blocking, and higher speed and agility for dodging and parrying. But how about we try it out and get used to all of the movement? A monster won't wait for you to attack first."

Going to the nearest person, a lanky man by the moniker Golden, she opened up a duel request. "We're in the safe zone, so we won't die even if we lose our health, but just in case I am setting the limits of the duel to stop the moment either of us hits yellow or gets a good hit in. I want us to practice dodging and evading strikes without being hit. Is this okay with you?" He nodded and I called out to the others during the countdown. "Find your own partners but remember the safeties and watch where other people are fighting. Be aware of your environment!"

There was a moment of awkward hesitation while Ahrina gestured for Golden to attack, followed quickly by a series of powerful but overextended strikes. He struck from above, she danced to the right. He swung high, she ducked low. He slashed left, she danced back and then lunged forward, striking his chest front on with a pat of her hand as he tried to right his balance.

"You're planted. Move around a little or you'll end up just a standing target." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment and readied himself again. By this time other pairs had stopped gawking and started matches of their own.

Golden lunged forward, trying for a piercing strike only to be sidestepped again by Ahrina. She struck out in turn, tapping his knuckles with the flat of her blade, causing him to drop his sword by reflex. "Did that hurt?" "Of course it- huh. No, not really." He held up his hand warily, then reclaimed his short sword. They clashed again with the same lack luster result as he left himself open to any counterattack. "Try jumping." Golden looked at her oddly. "I'm serious. Try jumping. You know..." Ahrina hopped in place a few times and he reluctantly followed suit when it looked like she wasn't going to let him off the hook by making a halfhearted spring.

"Yeah, this is a problem. Okay! Attention everyone! Stop your duels for a second. Now, why is it important we keep moving while we fight?"

A blonde girl raised her hand hesitantly- Starlett. "So... we don't get hit?"

"Correct! So. Why are so many of you standing in place after you attack? Even when your opponent is on the defensive, they can always lash out with a counter attack, and if your feet are planted you'll be less able to deal with that. So jump. All of you. Right now, with me. Jump and keep jumping. Yes, I am serious." With that she started jumping, alternating sporadically between normal hops, jumping jacks, tapping her toes, and hugging her knees.

At first only a few of the younger and more enthusiastic were willing to join, but even the more stoic found themselves willing to give it a shot when she started jumping directly in front of them, staring with a raised eyebrow and no nonsense expression. That is, except one person. "Got something against jumping?"

"Yeah, it looks stupid and this is pointless." The dissenter was a teenage boy with messy brown hair, Excel he called himself.

"Really? hm..." Ahrina stopped for a moment as if weighing his words. There was an awkward silence broken as the air left Excel's lungs. His back crashed against the flag stone courtyard as his legs were swept out from underneath him in a practiced motion. She offered a hand up without further words. He took it with a sigh.

"Point. Crazy bitch..."

"Is that a challenge? Okay! New game. Experiment time. Who here can't do a handstand in the normal world? No shame, come on, hands up." A few hands rose slowly, mostly from older players and men, more joining over time. "And who can?" Hands rose faster this time though there were fewer of them. "Try it." Nodding at Starlett, she gestured for the volunteer to move who flipped onto her hands with ease. "Great! Now you try." Ahrina then nodded to Mordecai, one of the larger men who had admitted to inability.

He looked at her in disbelief. "Are you kidding? I haven't tried that since grade school."

"Humor me. I'll do it with you." Ahrina went beside him and pushed his shoulder gently until he acquiesced. She went through the same motion slowly as he did, correcting his hand position once along the way. She held her breath as they kicked off and up. Nothing was more nerve wracking than live experiments, and the chance the system had accounted for this was only about 50/50. Thankfully for both of them her hunch held true. They both stood upside down like that for a moment before balancing back on their feet again. "We're not going by real world logic anymore. We're both at basic level agility, right? No points in it yet?" At his nod she continued. "Yet we can both do that, even if we couldn't before at home. Try it yourself."

Surprisingly Excel was the first to follow her lead. He practically jumped into it and then laughed until he fell over at his own success. "Lame... so lame..."

"Yeah, yeah, enjoy it. Face it, people, there are no excuses anymore. I don't care if you are a mountain or a twig. If you want to be the fastest dagger around, go for it. If you want to tank in full plate mail with a broadsword, no one is stopping you. Don't hold yourself back before you start. Try something different and surprise people. Surprise yourself! This is a new chance, it doesn't have to be serious. Just whatever you choose as a style, remember to watch your back."

"I could really try the big sword...?" Yoko looked thoughtful.

"You're full of shit." Finesse was less than impressed.

"That does sound like more fun..." Nostalgic smirked, clearly thinking of some possibility.

"Oh, hey, Ahri-whatsit. What was that about a forth defense?" One of the youngest players there, Speedemon, seemed to have the best memory.

"Ahri's fine. And the forth type of defense is the most effective of them all."

Jesuit shouted at her angrily. "Then why the hell didn't you start with that one?!"

"Huh~? Really? What is it?" Rachel bobbed up and down on her heels eagerly.

Vilonette called out with a laugh, "Don't hold out on us now!"

"The forth type of defense... is never being in the fight in the first place." Ahrina answered proudly.

"That... is so lame..." Excel hung his head in disappointment.

"H-how the hell is that a technique?!" Jesuit was less than satisfied.

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock..." Specter just looked back as if she were an idiot.

"No, wait, hear me out! This is bigger than it sounds. Even in our world preparation is everything. Here, if you pick a fight you might not win, you really will end up dead. So don't go fighting things above your level, don't go off alone without backup, and don't forget to bring plenty of health potions. Choose your battles wisely. If you don't want to fight something, you don't have to. There is no shame in going back to town for a day, resting up, getting a group, and leveling to get stronger before you try to fight something or go to a new area. Watch out for yourself first and don't be too proud to admit something is too dangerous."

Gloom settled over the group again, but not the oppressive cloud from before.

"It really might be our last, huh...?" Navi whispered with a sad smile.

Excel grumbled agreement. "Maybe its not so stupid..."

"Tch. Still sounds like coward's talk, but maybe you have a point." Jesuit was going to be a fun one to get along with, she could tell.

"But... what else is there? This is a stupid fighting game, what else even is there to do?!" EverAfter, the pacifist from earlier, repeated her underlying fear.

"A lot, actually. I mean, I was just looking around a bit earlier but it seems like you can order up a bunch of crafting skills, from blacksmithing and tailoring to cooking. Or you could be a merchant for other people's goods, give people an option other than the NPC vendors. Or, what about writing books? You think people here won't miss reading novels or short stories a month from now? What about singing? The system didn't take away your voice, did it? Find a niche and fill it. There are tons of non combat quests within the city, just talk to the NPCs and you can keep leveling just the same. Start a newspaper, put on a play and charge admission, set up carnival games, you'll make a killing as a distraction. Do whatever you want! Fight or don't, just come up with something and try it."

"I could... I could actually do that..." Everafter mumbled, sounding strangely determined.

"Pfft- who the hell would want to be a clown when they could kill monsters?" Khaoticone scoffed.

"Maybe we're not all aggressive little brats!" She bit out sharply.

Nostalgic raised his hand slowly. "I want to stab things and I'm not a brat."

Ignoring him, Khaoticone stuck out his tongue. "Takes a brat to know one, nyaaaa~"

"Oh, yeah, real mature. Maybe I /should/ run a circus and have a height requirement saying no shrimps allowed." Maybe Everafter didn't like kids...?

"Oh yeah? Well, who could go to your crummy old circus anyway? I'll be off slicing bosses in no time." Not that he was really a kid, he looked about middle school age.

"Um, guys...?" Melodycalls raised her hands feebly between them before dropping her own protest in the face of their antagonism.

"Slicing their feet, maybe."

With a nervous laugh Ahrina clapped Everafter and Khaoticone on the shoulder, holding them apart as Khaoticone lunged beneath her grip. "How about we use some of this... healthy aggression and break some practice dummies with sword skills! Good for slaughter AND chopping wood."

"Fine..." "Yes ma'am..."

She gestured wildly to the targets and most wandered to take a position at one target or another, calling out Horizontal as they struck. Wandering over to one who had stayed behind, Ahrina let herself relax. "Have I infected you with optimism yet?"

The stoic looking girl snorted before replying in a lazy monotone. "Nearly. But it seems like it's this or screaming, and acting the fool actually seems to be getting us somewhere."

"I'm touched."

"Unlikely. I'm sort of impressed though, to be honest. Are you a teacher or something?"

"I have taught many a lost and lonely soul."

"So that's a no then. I've played a lot of games myself, but this makes all of the random button mashing actually seem to translate into something practical." She scratched her nose as if covering embarrassment.

"That's the goal. 90% of the stuff I've covered is either common sense from media alone or just logic from taking a minute to think things through, but everyone was freaking out back there. Sometimes having people tell you things you already know can help snap yourself out of a negative mindset. That's all I'm doing."

"Don't sell yourself short. But thanks. I think this was what I needed, maybe. A reminder."

Ahrina gave a short, formal bow with one hand in a fist against her heart. "Then thank you, for making any of this worth it. There is kind of no point in reaching out if no one takes your hand, you know?"

The other girl chuckled to herself for a moment before extending a hand to Ahrina she gladly shook. "Ramses. I don't remember if I ever said before, but I suppose I'm in your care and all that."

"I'm Ahrina, the Chronicler and-"

"Data junkie and you care if we live or die. Yeah, I think we got the message a few dozen times ago."

Giving a self satisfied smirk, Ahrina drawled out her success. "Infection complete. If you got the message, I'd call that a win. Try it yourself some time. Hell, I'd be glad if you all did. Share a little optimism and let people you see know that someone out there gives a damn." The ever chipping away at the practice dummies was a nice background noise. Even Everafter was getting into it after the non violent uses for violence were pointed out. They sat in relative silence, listening only to the enthusiastic chopping in front of her. Every once in a while they remembered their sword skills, and she watched to make sure they each completed one at least twice successfully. Mostly, though, it looked therapeutic to just hack away without a care.

A while later she called them to a halt, still half surprised they bothered listening to her. "Thank you guys for hearing me out today. I think this was important for all of us. If you haven't already, I suggest you add everyone else here to your friends list. You never know when you'll need someone else, even if it is only to talk." After allowing a few minutes for the remaining requests to be sent, (surprisingly even the bitter pair sent one to each other, though it had gone with a taunt and rude gesture...), she continued. "I'll be around too, of course. If you hadn't caught it earlier, I care about what you guys are going to be up to. Shoot me a message when you think of who you want to be here, let me know if you find some cool area. Heck, if you want to tell me how much you miss watching your favorite TV show, I'm sure you won't be the only one. Just find something you love in this world too. And if you can, reach out to other people. Tell them not to tear their hair out too much over things they can't change, or tell them to do a handstand. Gives the world a bit of a change in perspective, 180 degrees, you know? I'm going to go out and level a bit, or learn how to bake a cake. Or maybe I'll look for the herbs the apothecary is asking for. But I'll be doing something. Let me know if you ever want to tag along and do something too, but I think this has been a long day for all of us. Take a break, you deserve it."

Ahrina gave a satisfied smile at the group and started to walk away before stopping suddenly. "Oh yeah." A few swipes of her menu brought up her messages. Leaving the flashing alert for later, she swiftly sent a cor to everyone standing there. "The inn is up the road not too far that way, and the general store is a ripoff unless you are in a hurry. Try other stores first for supplies, or other players if you can."

A murmured thanks reached her along with a surprised yelp. That was the rest of her gold from the day, and not even very much per person. It was still worth it though, just a bit of luck for each of them.

"Hey! Let me know when you make your guild!" Ramses called out suddenly.

"Why would I make a guild?" Actually, that wouldn't be a bad idea...

"Do it anyway, or I will and you'll have to be in charge without getting to choose the name." A dire threat indeed.

"You /want/ to be called the Obnoxious Sparkly Rainbows?"

The look she gave her was priceless. "...maybe I'll choose the name anyway..."

"Seriously, that's awful..." Finesse looked disgusted at the thought.

"Talk about bad taste..." Aw, even Golden was against her?

"Wait- what's obnoxious about sparkles?" Naturally there had to be one in the crowd who didn't get the joke. Oh, Yoko.

With a laugh, Ahrina left them arguing behind her. Out of sight, she checked her messages again, this time reading the new one from Argo. "Meet me in the empty store by the tailor by the north gate when you are finished there." Quite the timing, that. She headed off toward the outskirts, ignoring players slumped like vagrants in odd corners, mumbling to themselves about disbelief and wringing their hands. Empty stores seemed strangely common in this town- perhaps to allow for player growth within Starting City? Ahrina mused to herself, sidestepping a man crying on his hands and knees. She slipped inside the door carefully, searching the apparently bare walls and floor for her mysterious admirer.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty..."

"I'm the RAT, not cat," an annoyed voice corrected behind her, from the other side of the door frame. Argo stood there unmoving, clearly sizing her up, so Ahrina took a moment to do the same. She was young, maybe 14, with a boyish haircut and new armor clearly upgraded from the starting set of plain shirts and pants. "I don't remember you. There's a chance you could be Sunset or Nora, but the speech patterns don't match and Nora'd never waste time on n00bs like that. So spill it. Who's the old name to match the new face?"

"All new, actually. So you're a beta tester? Successful, at that. I bet you know a lot about this world, more if you expect to know the other thousand off hand."

A significant look passed between them, two people who knew and appreciated exactly how valuable that was. "I'm Ahrina. Chronicler and data junkie. And we are going to be good friends."

Argo smirked. "No caring if I live or die?"

"Not doubting your ability to avoid the situation in the first place."

"Even trades?"

"That's the game. I don't charge, just info for info."

"I want your friends list." Argo stared at her blankly.

"I want to know where to get Sparroweed and Mellowflax." Ahrina retorted, already copying down the list and marking which had come to combat training.

"Merl Forest to the west, near the river for sparrow and by the trees for flax." Nodding at the addition of the smaller group of names being marked off, she added, "Monsters get buffed at sunset apparently. No increase in drops or exp, just a higher difficulty encouraging curfew, so watch for wolves."

Ahrina whistled, that was a valuable one. "I want to see others succeed in this world because unproductive depressing sheep piss me off."

"That's... that's your reason?!"

"I also have no settled plans yet for how else I'm going to play this, or what I'll be working towards."

"Not an info broker?"

"I don't need the gold. I can send you copies of my data if you want, but I'll be building everything from scratch. Hell, I didn't even research the beta at all before this. I just have what I know from other games and common sense."

Argo rubbed her temples absently as if calculating her usefulness. "You're willing to keep track of everyone, right? Check in with them, particularly those you didn't talk to at your little group. If anyone has anything interesting to say, I want to hear it. And if you give out info for free, let me know whenever you learn something important from someone first. I'll pay for rights to hear about interesting events before anyone else and the trouble to keep hearing it first."

Ahrina nodded, that was a deal she'd certainly accept, particularly since it seemed like they had the same goal of seeing everyone live through this. Or, at the very least, to not have to listen to tales of stupid deaths or suicides, but that was less socially acceptable to say out loud. "I want maps as soon as you get them and to hear about anyone making strides politically." At her raised eyebrow, Ahrina continued. "It's bound to happen sooner or later, I might even make a play myself if I get bored. I'd just rather nip any incompetents in the bud early by sending them off on different pursuits. I don't care if someone is helping, I care if some jerk off is going to get people killed stupidly or for their own agenda."

Understanding passed between them and Argo held out her hand. "Chronicler." "Rat." Ah, respect. Comes with a worthy trade.

"I'm going to try to find those herbs tonight."

"Test the difficulty increase on the boars first, wolves are stronger."

Ahrina gave her a bow of respect and headed toward the town gate. Under duress, she might admit that the sensation of crossing through the border of the safe zone outward was chilling. Logically nothing had changed from earlier (except a combat difficulty leap without balanced rewards to make up for it... why was she doing this again?) but a shiver ran up her spine all the same as she walked out onto the hills under the cool night air. Everything always did look different in the dark as the eyes switched from cones to rods for focus, but the leeching of color as saturation was drained away from the scenery, leaving bare traces of what it once appeared under the sun... that was eerie. Remarkably done, of course, and a grand imitation, but the accompanying programming instilling a sense of unease- No. That wasn't programming. Ahrina was scared.

She gazed out at the... herd... sounder... group... of boar before her, acutely aware of just how alone she was. There were no clashes of combat from adjacent fights or anyone within earshot to give assistance. These hills would be swarming with farmers in the morning as people tried to grind in relative safety, but for now they were most empty. Just... her and the boar. Peacefully grazing boar not hurting anyone who probably were looking forward to a nice relaxing evening of not being forced to shatter any stupid wandering human into polygons of data. She breathed a deep sigh and unsheathed her cutlass. The boar's night would just have to be disturbed after all.

Closing her eyes, she thought it out. She would play this smart. She hadn't been hit yet since she started and increased base stats didn't translate into better AI. Theoretically the attack patterns would be the same. Ahrina wasn't going to wait for one of them to make the first move. She approached one furthest from the others from behind and let off a Reaver to lead the attack, grateful for the shock delay as the system held her in place a moment. The moment it released her she darted back, kiting the boar's charge toward the town and safe zone little by little as she dodged, swiping away at its hide every time. The first strike had only taken a 5th of its health, a significant difference from the 40% or so earlier in the day. About twice the difficulty for health, then, certainly.

The boar's attack patterns were straightforward but subtle to get the trick of. Aside from normal flailing and attacks, It appeared to have two variations of charge, one which it would follow through on and turn around swiftly to try again while the other was an overextended charge that left it shaking its head for a few moments afterward in recovery. The first was more common, while the second would allow time enough for a sword skill with no chance of retaliation back. The trouble was telling which would be which as each began with a shake of the head. She watched it carefully through the next few charges before finding the tell.

Tch. It was mirrored. The head toss began to the right for the return charge and left for the delayed. How were players meant to even find that? Swiftly laying another Reaver against it, she supposed it didn't actually matter. With two people these would be child's play anyway, and even chance guessing if someone thought there might be a pattern would clear these on normal difficulty without much trouble. If you didn't care if you were hit a time or two, you could attack on either charge. But that wasn't something she was willing to chance.

One boar burst into polygons, then a second, and a third. A rhythm of mayhem clashed on the hills, strike dodge strike dodge skill dodge strike. She fought her fears away, straying further and further from the gate. The experience was terrible, as she'd been warned, but it was better than nothing at all and added up slowly over time. After clearing the hills once and starting at respawns, she sent a quick note to Argo on their attacks patterns, as much as a thank you for the warning as anything else.

Making her way through the forest, she recalled the directions. "By the River" and "Around Trees" were both incredibly vague, but perhaps that was all that was necessary. She traveled slowly, flinching with every crunch of leaf underfoot. It seemed quite fortunate when she found Mellowflax near a solid oak without so much as a wolf in sight. Her fortune did not last long and a muffled snarl was the only warning she had of an attack as she bagged the last of the herbs in the area. The force of the beast thrust her backward, knocking the air from her lungs as her back hit the three. She eyed her health warily. Nearly 30% gone from a single body slam. It circled again and lunged at her throat only to hit bark as she dodged, slicing with a Slant as it slammed into the tree. She took away 1/6 of its health with the strike: not good, but not as bad as she had feared. The wolf snarled as it refocused on her, barring its teeth viciously. Absently, Ahrina noted the lack of damage to the tree and the translucent purple shield that surrounded it during the strike. How to use that...

The wolf charged, swiping at her thing with its claws as she dodged to the side and sunk her blade into the flesh of its shoulder, pushing it forward away from her. It twisted under her sword and wrenched back toward her, jaws gnashing with astonishing frequency and audible clacks. Taking a chance she jumped over it, watching it sail past with rage. She nailed it with another Reaver, barely recovering in time to block the next few swiped of its claws. She backed against the tree again, letting it take the charge as she struck. This was manageable. Hard. Damn hard. But manageable.

She mistimed the next sword skill, letting a sharpened claw sink into her side with a grimace. Her health was down to yellow in an instant. That... was not a good sign. She tried to ram it against the tree again only for the wolf to back off instead of falling for the same trick. She'd fought this one for too long. Taking a chance, she parried the next claw swipes, knocking it aside as she struck at the unprotected under belly with a Slant. The shattering sound had never been so welcome.

Ahrina fell to her knees, taking a moment to relax before she heard something that made her blood run cold. A single wolf's howl was met by a chorus of others and they didn't sound very far away. Bloody hell... Looking around, she took her chance on a tree branch, using it as the first foothold as she climbed higher into the foliage. There didn't appear to be anything around her, no birds or bugs she could see at least. And there was one tree with branches close enough to be considered overlapping, so that was one possibility. But some things were more important than that. She glared at her health bar, the 31% shining back at her as barely an improvement from when she was last struck. Time to do something about this... She hadn't distributed any stats from her first level up or even equipped her second sword skill after [One handed curved blades]. A bit foolish, but no harm no foul. Scrolling through the list of possibilities, she debated abilities before settling on the inconvenience at hand. [Battle Healing] would do her well. Equipping the skill she felt a rush of energy and watched the improvement in speed of recovery even at the base level.

A message from Argo took her attention away from the ever thrilling tick of life force. It was a map of the forest identifying the river's location and shortest distances out. Comparing it to her own half filled map, she found it wasn't very far but in a different direction than she had been traveling. Thank you, Argo. As a trade, she sent back a shorthand missive on the wolf she'd fought. "Wolves adjust to attack patterns eventually. Claw, bite, lunge. Lunge at tree triggers Immortal Object and stuns." She likely knew this already, but having the current state of monsters confirmed couldn't hurt. Another note came back quickly with a portion of the forest circled on the map and the words "Don't fight that one". Right. Sound advice. Not going there. Definitely, most certainly not going there. Until morning. Yes, that one could wait until morning when she had a minion or two and her long awaited batch of health potions. Speaking of which... She checked her health, now up to 76%, and decided that was fair enough to start moving out.

Still hearing the wolves in the distance, she checked the map. Yep, that way of course. After a moment of debate she chose the high road. That is, she chose to continue crawling along the branches of the dense oaks, completely unafraid of the slavering hordes potentially below her at any moment. That was definitely not an issue for her and did not influence her decision in the slightest.

Her progress was slow, and perhaps a foolish precaution, but she found the small brook without further issue, lowering herself to the edge of its bank, careful not to make a sound. Luckily for her, the Sparroweed was nearby in abundance and she grabbed every sprig in sight. From here the edge of the forest wasn't very far, assuming she didn't mind walking around the edge to get back to town. It was close enough to take her chances on foot.

It was a great relief to stop hearing the incessant howling. It was less of a relief when one of the dreaded beasts made itself known with a snap of its teeth where her head had been. The end practically in sight, Ahrina let out an annoyed huff and readied her cutlass. Now knowing two attacks that would go unretaliated, she threw them against the wolf semi randomly, dodging and slashing normally instead on occasion to keep from falling into a pattern. This barrage worked much more effectively. The finishing blow came in the form of a new sword skill, the Deep Forest Wolf falling to an Uppercut, unlocked by the prolonged combat. Heading back to town at a more comfortable stride, she cleared her path of boars with what were now long practiced motions.

The safe zone was a breath of fresh air, the lack of hostility a comforting blanket until the constant sobbing stole away what small joy she'd found in the town's aura. It was mildly surprising to find the apothecary open this late, but the old man had a night time animation of poring over a few test tubes and muttering about needing more moonlight. He accepted the herbs with a soft smile and his thanks, setting them in a drawer. And then again. And again. It was honestly disconcerting, the repeated mechanics of sincerity that appeared so real at first glance. Perhaps this quest was not meant to be repeatable so early on? In any case, that was 15 health potions she didn't have before, and a third level was reached the second time she turned it in. Checking the clock briefly (04:38), she decided to send off messages and call it a night. Only two were needed, but those were used over an over. As the last was sent off she wandered back to the empty store she had met Argo in and crashed behind the counter.

[[To: Mordecai, Ramses, Starlett, Khaoticone, Golden, EverAfter, Vilonette, Speedemon, Finesse, Excel, Melodycalls, Fallen, Nostalgic, Rachel, Navi, Specter, Yoko, Mockingbird, Jesuit]

"Thanks for coming to combat training today, it meant a lot to see you there willing to fight and work to make something of your life here. Remember the future is what we make it into. Do something tomorrow to make yours a tale worth telling, find a cause. -Chronicler Ahri

P.S. Which is more appealing to you: speed, raw strength, or dexterity?"]

[[To: All others, 34 strangers]

"Today will be better than yesterday because we will make it so. Not that it could really get worse at this point, right? Only up from here. In case you don't remember me, I'm Ahrina the Chronicler and I care if you live or die. So tell me your story. Who are you? What can you do? Is your specialty tying string into knotted dolls or training your dog to wait before meals? Would you rather swim across a river or climb a tree? Would you rather learn something constructive like taking up a new craft or destructive and help the rest of us get out of here? Let me know.

-Data Junkie Ahrina"]


	2. Chronicle 2

Sliding Path

Light brought her to consciousness at the bright and early hour of noon. There was a lengthy period of disorientation, somehow not made any clearer by the presence of an illusory clock in her field of vision. The wooden floor beneath her was neither cold nor warm and the smooth surface slipped across her fingers with no tell of the grain.

Blinking slowly, her sluggish mind tried to place her location. She was on the floor. Yes, that was clear. In... a room. Yes, this was some sort of room. Looking around she could see empty shelves and a shorter counter all made of a dull but polished wood. Yawning in incomprehension, she stretched and scratched the back of her head. And froze. That... wasn't quite right... She brought a handful of hair in front of her face and stared. At first glance it appeared the same as it had every day. Yet... the color was right, but the details were off. The texture was wrong. That was it. Where she expected a certain feeling, she only felt a uniform softness and shine rather than the normal variation and slight frizz. Instead of feeling as each follicle moved with the tug, she only felt the strands move between her fingers.

Suddenly awake, she took another look around and brought her fingers down in front of her in a half remembered hunch. The system menu appeared in front of her instantly, the faint glow and translucence akin to the very idea of holographic interfaces. "Fikin' hell..." She groaned before raising herself to her feet. Aincrad. Right. Sword Arts. Lockdown, Kayaba, panic, plan B, contacts, wolves. Idea by idea, the previous day came to her and she moved mechanically to open her messages. 31 new messages 32 new messages Another came in before she could even begin to scroll down. Sorting through them mentally, she prioritized to Argo's message.

["Here's a map to the next town, check the vendors in every town for them. The road is more dangerous than the forest it cuts through." [Argo]]

As she'd written, the map attached was an updated one of the floor with only the starting city, forest, and new town Logema colored in. Ahrina sent back her thanks before moving onto the next message.

["I don't want to die." [Verdent]]

["Soccer. I like soccer. I played forward on my team and we have a game scheduled for Sunday." [Chocoholic]]

["You're an idiot and I hope the boars get you." [Stormclaw]]

["Why should I bother- this ruins everything. All of my plans have gone to hell. I worked for my life. I did everything right. I don't deserve to be trapped here with worthless gamers like you. 'Just test it out' they said. 'Games are fun these days!' If this is the pinnacle of the age the industry needs to be torn down brick by sodding brick!" [Colloway]]

["Why are people so worked up about this? I mean, it's got to be a joke, right? There is no way the police are going to let us rot here, so we'll be home in no time." [Steeleel]]

["FUCK YOU FUCK THIS FUCK EVERYTHING! This is BULLSHIT! TOTAL FUCKING BULLSHIT! A game?! Like hell it is! Vico just got burst by a fucking boar- one fucking crit and the bastard just up and shattered! He was a dick, but I needed that asshole- he was one of those lucky beta jerks. DAMNIT ALL TO HELL THIS SUUUUUUUUCKS" [Growler]]

["Yo- got any tips for xp? The hills are swarming with dudes atm, all the boars are taken. Just thought I'd give you a shot." [Dlold]]

["I need to find my friend. He said his name was going to be Crimson or Scarlet or something that means red, but I don't remember what and I don't know what I'm doing without him. If you see a red guy- can you tell him Nia is looking for him?" [Niallens]]

["Cn u gv m3 cor plz? I n3d it 4 swd tks" [BOOM]]

["If you really want to help people, don't make yourself a target this early. People need someone to blame." [Checkers]]

["A friend told me that if someone needs an inn but they are all full you can rent a room from an NPC's house. So, uh, spread the word or something." [Rioter]]

["I'm a nurse. I take care of people for a living. This doesn't make any sense. I shouldn't be here. I thought this would be fun, something different. What am I doing here?" [FallingStar]]

["This is pointless. You're pointless." [Mercury]]

["Grouping up is going to get you killed- nothing but trouble. Leave the noobs to themselves." [Pseudonym]]

["I needed that. I don't want to be alone. But I'm not alone, am I? We're all stuck here. I want a guild." [Murken]]

["I thought there was going to be ranged stuff- I'm an archer not a fighter. Heard anything about that sort of thing yet?" [Killerkat]]

["How do I send a message to a friend?" [NanaNana]]

["Nevermind, found it." [NanaNana]]

["Wait- who were you again?" [NanaNana]]

And that was it for the new people. Not exactly optimistic, but it could be much worse. At least if someone was writing that they hated her they were releasing some negative energy. But on that note... Ahrina quickly brought up her friends list and deleted [BOOM] from it. Anger she could deal with. Gold beggars were scum, and frankly any world could deal with fewer of them. They'd plagued nearly every game she played, and seeing one on the first day...

Before starting her other replies she sent a message off to Argo, sending on the requests.

["Have you found any player with red in their name yet, or crimson, scarlet, vermillion, or any variation thereof? Niallens is looking. And is there any archery or ranged weaponry for people uncomfortable with close combat? Also, [BOOM] is a gold beggar, and [Vico] the beta is dead."]

Argo's response came before she finished sending off a cheeky "thank you for your feedback" message to [StormClaw].

["There was a CrimsonSky is the beta and I saw a ScarletBlade yesterday. I'll keep an eye out for others. Tell anyone looking for range to equip the [Throwing Weapons] skill and see how it develops." [Argo]]

With a smile Ahrina sent off the tip to the unfortunately named [KillerKat] and then the names to [Niallens] asking if either could be her friend. Other responses could be short as well. To [NanaNana] she sent off a reflexive spiel about optimism and information while [Dlold] got the information on wolf attack patterns and where to find the apothecary quest.

[Verdent] got a simple "Then live and find something to live for." while [Mercury] got a snarkier "Maybe, but talking is better than doing nothing." in reply. [Checkers] got a more sincere "Thanks, I'll watch my back. I need to be in view though." She thanked [Rioter] for the tip, mentally making a note to send it out en masse later.

To [Pseudonym]] Ahrina sent a harsh "Those noobs are going to get themselves killed without the help of skilled players. Soloing is fine, just be willing to show someone else the ropes even if you don't want to hold their hand." For [Growler]... Ahrina didn't quite know how to respond. This was the first confirmed death then, at least to her. Typing carefully, she responded. "That... really sucks. Seriously. I am so sorry about Vico. I'll burst a few boars in his name. We've got to clear this now for everyone gone and still around. At least there are other beta players around to talk to."

That left of the new people Chocoholic, Colloway, Steeleel, FallingStar, and Murken. After a thought, she decided to deal with them together. Ahrina sent an invitation to a meeting at the northern inn that night at 7 to each of them. Maybe it would do them some good to talk things out with others.

That business taken care of, Ahrina stretched and hopped on the counter beside her, leaning her back against the wall. Now to take care of those she actually cared about...

["Dude! Not cool! It's chaos out here. The hills are way too crowded with campers and no one is even paying attention to their own fights. People are popping left and right!" [Speedemon]]

["Where did you say that apothecary was? I don't like the idea of walking around without being able to heal myself- I'm used to playing clerics." [MelodyCalls]]

["Thank you, I really needed that. Today is a new day so we might as well enjoy the game we signed on for." [Vilonette]]

["I've got a guy who needs your help. I'm not good with words. Meet up?" [Jesuit]]

["Boars are over hunted. Going after wolves. Want to join?" [Ramses]]

["I don't want to fight alone but I don't want to see anyone die. I think I'll stay safe inside the city until things calm down." [Navi]]

["We're really unlucky, aren't we? Everyone envied me for getting a copy, but now I might never see them again. This was going to be a break, a slight vacation. I took work off and everything so I could get a head start. Man, this reeks." [Yoko]]

["I just don't get it. Why are you doing this? It's no skin off your back if some strangers bite it, so what's the deal?" [Golden]]

["There are too many children here. What kind of parents would let their kid into this kind of world?" [EverAfter]]

["I still think this is bullshit, but whether it is or not, I don't want to find out the wrong way." [Excel]]

["Quite the preacher. If you keep sending positive fluff it will piss me off eventually, but I guess this proves yesterday wasn't a dream. Thanks, I guess." [Mordekai]]

["What's with the beta ditch? Everyone else in Starting City is such a lousy noob. Were you a beta?" [Finesse]]

Ahrina answered the few questions swiftly and honestly before inviting Navi and Jesuit to the meet up later that day (after confirming Jesuit's friend's problem wasn't urgent). As to Ramses, that was an offer too good to pass up. She sent off a quick "I'm in. Where are you now?" and headed to the nearest armory. A sword she'd upgraded, but other than that she was still in basic noob gear.

In life or death, armor and defense was going to mean a hell of a lot more than she was used to. Mages didn't usually need armor other than cloth for decoration and stats, so this would be a new experience for her. Ahrina was melee now, they all were. Cloth wasn't going to cut it, but at the same time... Heavy or light armor? Attack or defense? Speed or strength? It was all the same question but one she did not want to answer. It felt like distributing a single stat point would be making a commitment in one direction she would have to stick with. Sure, she could likely make up for any changes later easily enough, she knew that... but the earlier she got on a certain path, the more practice and experience she would have for it, efficiency wise.

She spent another moment staring at different options, staring in the indecision of debate. Then, with a cross look on her face, she swiftly brought up her menu, put equal points in strength and agility, and bought a leather curiass and bracers. Any decision was better than walking around weaker than possible and unprotected. Hesitation was more likely to get her killed than anything else, and the moderate choices could easily be changed one way or another.

Let's think about this... she wasn't a tank. As much fun as it would be to take advantage of the opportunity to wear full sets of plate mail, her first instinct would always be to dodge over block, and parry for style points. She was a dancer, not a mountain. Spears would be good for range, daggers would be good for speed, swords would be for her inner fan girl... hm... She ran a finger down her cutlass... A swashbuckler... now that could be fun. It could work. A cutlass or a dao and an emphasis on acrobatics and agility while still stacking strength to back it up... Yeah. Why not? That would work. It would also be flashy enough to suit her tastes, spur of the moment or not.

With a flourishing bow Ahrina gave the air a few flamboyant slashes. She'd need a hat. A fancy hat. With a feather. And a long coat. And nice boots. Looking around the shop menu she found a good pair of leather knee high boots of the same shade as her bracers, but the rest would have to wait until she had more cash to spend.

Now equipped, it was time to meet Ramses. She'd sent a message with her current location not far into the forest, and Ahrina slunk out of town on her way. Sure enough, the hills were covered with people, and instead of a gentle breeze and occasional clash of steel there was nothing but a raucous cacophony of hateful noise. The boars were not even the real enemy anymore to the players here. They were pushing each other around fighting for scraps, screaming and stealing kills. The lack of care given to the boars was shocking and Ahrina could only stare appalled as a burly man got gored in to the red while distracted and pushing a smaller man aside.

She snapped herself out of her daze and marched over to the bickering pair, slapping the larger man and shoving a potion in his face before finishing off the boar herself. "Pay attention, damnit! Look at your health for the Root's sake!"

"Hey, mind your own business! These boars are mine- back off!"

"I was here first- find your own! Don't screw with me, man, I need the xp!"

They continued fighting, ignoring the world around them, and Ahrina abandoned the cause with an irritated sigh. The effort required to show them what idiots they were being would be put to better use elsewhere. Disgusted, she made her way past the unruly mob. Maybe the forest would hold some reprieve from the madness.

To her annoyance, the noise barely abated beyond the initial wall of trees. Instead of being able to focus on the level of detail and easy natural beauty, she felt their ever grating anger grow.

"Oi! Data Junkie!" Her frustration cleared at the sight of Ramses, calling her over to a group of three. Ramses towered over a scrawny boy with messy black hait while the other man with her shared her tan complexion. "My brother, Callous, and his pet shrimp, Zerg."

"Quit calling me a shrimp! I swear that was one time!" 'Zerg' shouted, waving his arms wildly as Ramses pat his head with a condescending grin.

"That's true, he's really more of a crawfish anyway." Callous added with an identical smirk.

"That's right! I'm a... hey! That's not any better... whatever.. jerks. You're the weird happy person, right? We're a trio, got that? Just us. You might be tagging along today as payback for helping Ramses before, but that's only today." He punctuated his point with sweeping hand gestures ending in crossed arms.

"Isn't he cute? So possessive, our little crunchy crustacean." Callous picked up the said crustacean who lost his scowl with his balance.

"Anyway... what Zerg means to say in his twerpiness is that we had planned to just stick together, but since you sent on that wolf data and kind of helped snap me out of things yesterday, I figured it might not be bad to have you along as we went after this miniboss." Callous finally put Zerg down as Ramses concluded with a straight face.

"Hey, it's no trouble at all, I'd been meaning to come... back... to... wait, did you say mini boss? You... wouldn't happen to mean this mini boss, would you?" Ahrina brought out the map Argo had marked and pointed to the area Argo had marked "do not go here".

"Aha! Yup, that's the place. I knew bringing you along would be worth it. This way we don't have to spend time looking for the place." Ramses smirked as she added the data to her own map.

"You... didn't know? Erm... so, out of curiosity, what level are you guys right now?" This was a bad idea. A fun, terrible idea. And she'd already messed up. Ahrina quickly opened the menu and sent a message off to Argo as they responded.

["Going to wolf mini boss in forest with Ramses, Zerg, and Callous. Advice?"]

"1."

"2."

"1 AND a half."

"Right... so... why aren't ya'll aiming for normal wolves to train on first?"

["Bad idea. Level 5. Be level 4 first. Clear all adds first while 1 distracts." [Argo]]

"We should be doing boars, but those are all claimed, and they'll be coming as a crowd to the forest soon enough. Each boss gives a special item to the first person to last hit it, and better that it goes to one of us early than get lost in the mob." Callous shrugged confidently despite his single level. "Don't worry about me. I might still be level 1, but I was in the beta. I just spent the first day showing Zerg around the sights before the shit storm came around."

"If you are worried, we can grab a few wolves on the way, but we're aiming for this prize today with or without you."

"Let's see how normal wolves go first, alright? This mini boss is level 5, so we shouldn't even go near it until we know what we are doing."

["Our combined levels equal 7. I'll try to talk them out of it or keep them alive through it, but I'm not leading here."]

"Well you better quit dawdling then! Time's a wasting." Zerg swaggered off, clearly expecting to lead the others behind him.

"Wolves first. Definitely." Ahrina reluctantly followed behind them further into the forest and hung back for the first fight, watching how they handled themselves. It wasn't as bad as she'd feared. Zerg was awkward, half tripping over himself as he slashed wildly, ignoring the use of sword skills. However, Ramses and Callous were good. Callous moved with a casual grace, dodging easily before striking back with a large two handed sword. Ramses was slower with her moves but struck confidently with her attacks, using the long range of her basic spear to keep the wolf away from her. Interestingly, the three of them had a system for "tagging out" of a fight where one of them would call out "switch!" and the one currently fighting the wolf would back off, letting the other have room to re engage and use wider range skills while the one who retreated could take a short break from combat. While Zerg's dagger in general was... less than effective, he did work well with the others and followed their warnings and directions. Luckily, these wolves did seem significantly weaker than the ones from the night before and were handled fairly easily despite the low levels.

After the first wolf shattered, Callous stepped up to correcting Zerg's lack of sword skills before Ahrina had to say a word. It was actually rather nice to watch the two of them, as Callous corrected him softly and demonstrated the movements again to an embarrassed and blushing Zerg. The next wolf was an improvement as the tell tale flash started activating every other time he stabbed forward. As long as he wasn't fighting alone and had either Ramses or Callous beside him they kept him from taking much damage and kited the mobs between them. It wasn't the most efficient at times, but she could work with this.

"Hey! You just going to watch or what?"

"Just admiring your teamwork, shrimp." At that prompt, Ahrina charged the next wolf, unleashing a Reaver on its side bringing it down to half health, trusting one of the others to guard her during the system delay. She jumped backward at the next switch and Callous finished it off, also subbing in for Zerg. It was easy to see how he was a beta player- he was the oly one of them comfortable with switching off backwards without looking behind him first. He never took his eyes off the wolves except to check his team's positioning.

A few wolves later Zerg and Callous leveled up, quickly adding points to agility and strength respectively. They were making good progress, but it was clear they were starting to get a little impatient with the repetition. With four people, these wolves were child's play. Ahrina was still half a level from four herself and had decided it was a minimum requirement for one of them to reach Argo's recommendation before she let them begin. A quick detour led them to the apothecary's quest grounds, showing the herbs had respawned, though not in the quantity they had appeared before. Perhaps there was something to Callous' "first" theory, giving bonuses with each event. Or maybe it was randomized. In any case, gathering the quest items was a good distraction and traveling from one mat to the other gave them more time for the wolves.

It wasn't that she didn't want to fight the boss- it was even daylight now and she liked this party well enough. Risking lives on the second day, though? Huh. Actually... She wasn't really one to talk after what she'd done last night... And technically, anything is a life risk in SAO outside of the cities.

"Come on! I'm a pro! We've got this..." Zerg pleaded to a shrugging Ramses.

"I don't mind. Callous?"

"How many potions do you have, shrimp?"

"Potions?"

"Yeah... Okay. We're turning that quest in first."

"Make sure you pick up some sort of armor while we're in town too."

"Fine, fine... we'll hit the city first. But then we've seriously got to get this giant wolf! Someone is going to beat us to it, guys..." His whine was motivation enough to leave the forest in haste. The boar hills were swarming with even more people than before, all getting in each other's ways. Even then border of the forest had a few groups prowling about- a sure sign that it would not be free farming much longer. They were probably right about someone challenging the mini boss first if they couldn't, but that might be for the best. Unless the challengers were also under leveled and didn't have anyone looking out for them. Damnit.

As the trio went off to get themselves better equipped, Ahrina hung back by the town's gate to check her messages- 5 new ones. Argo's was first, of course. It asked for an update. She sent back that they had not attempted it yet and the smaller herb patches, wondering to her if every quest and boss gave extra to the first to complete it. Argo's quick confirmation of the theory came immediately, as if she'd been waiting for it. Two other messages were confirming the meeting later that evening. The next was a tad concerning as it was another round of trite pessimism as a soul she'd yet to meet spoke of suffocation and doom. The last was, ironically, a tip from someone else recommending she find Argo the Rat if she really wanted to learn the world.

By the time she finished reading and replying, the other three had returned- Callous with a new broadsword and breastplate, Zerg with new gloves and boots, and Ramses with a dark blue half cape on her left shoulder.

"Lookin' sharp. All set for pots?" At their nods, she continues. "All right... I'd like to level up again before we hit the boss, but this should have us more set."

"Well no use waiting around here! That wolf is as good as ours!" Zerg stabbed the air with his dagger, punctuating his point.

The wild grin faded from his face as they made their way through the mob of boar hunters again silently. With how chaotic the scene appeared, it was hard to tell if the number of players had shrunk or grown, but a few notable faces from before were ominously missing. Perhaps they'd gone ahead? That must be it... This time as they entered the forest they were not alone. A few braver souls were clearly branching out to wolves despite the slight difficulty increase, likely due to scarcity of easy prey on the hill side. By contrast to the aggressive crowd outside, the small groups inside the woods gave each other some minimal space and small nods of respect, staking their hunting grounds cautiously. At this rate of progression someone was going to come across the field boss, prepared for it or not.

Ramses and Callous seemed to come to the same conclusion, nodding to each other gravely. Callous turned toward Ahrina, shrugging apologetically. "I know you wanted to level again, but I don't think we can afford to wait much longer."

"We'll play it safe, tag out and kite. We might be under leveled, but we know how to work together. We'll be fine." Ramses added, determined.

"Don't be such a wuss! We've got potions and everything now, so let's just go already!"

It was clear they would continue with or without her. With a slight wince at the idea of going through with such a bad plan, Ahrina gestured helplessly. "Lead on, then." She sent Argo a last update on player progression through the forest and their inevitable attempt.

The four had nine levels between them, less than half of what was suggested. None of that mattered though as they approached the lair of the beast. Well, less of a lair and more of a clearing, really. The [Forest Guardian] rolled a femur between its paws casually before letting out a rather canine yawn. Zerg rushed forward upon seeing it only to be pulled back by Callous, who had expected the motion.

With a declarative tone he laid out the plan. "If this is the same as the beta, as soon as we attack the [Forest Guardian] we'll trigger add pops- there were 6 of them before, 2 at a time with each health bar." He gestured above the mini boss where three health bars shone brightly. "It worked best last time to have one person distract the boss while the others took care of the adds quickly and then went back to help. Normally I would take point here, but..." Ahrina had a sinking feeling she knew exactly where this was going.

With a grimace she finished his sentence. "But in this particular party it would be a better plan for me to tank aggro while you three work together to clear the adds as you have practiced. I get it. You three cover each other well and I'm least likely to take a hit willingly." She didn't mention that Zerg needed them both to cover him or that her level would be an advantage.

"Exactly. We'll help as soon as we possibly can, but you'll be facing it alone for the most part. Just call if you need me to switch in for you to take a potion or something. As much as we need this boss dropped asap, it isn't worth dying for." He gave an apologetic smile for setting her up as a scapegoat if the rest of them needed to ditch. This really was a terribly idea. It was their second day in the game. Attacking a boss of any kind was insanity with the raised stakes, even what was likely meant to be an introduction to boss fights. And yet... Ahrina shifted the cutlass in her grip and rocked to the pads of her feet and back again. Was it so wrong to want it anyway? Was it really that bad to risk herself if it meant a proper test of what she could do in this life, and the thrill of facing a foe just outside of her specified capabilities? Heh... What was life without a little danger?

With a cocky smirk and heart pounding in her chest at the very idea, she agreed. "Just finish up fast or there won't be any wolf left for you, got it?" Their grins matched her own as they headed into the boss' range.

The second they set foot in the clearing the [Forest Guardian] started growling, its teeth bared in a low snarl. They stepped cautiously but it wasn't until Ahrina was within four yards of it that it lunged with an echoing howl.

Ahrina was too preoccupied with jumping out of the way to see if the adds had spawned like Callous said, but she certainly heard their answering calls. Only... that didn't sound like a simple pair of forest wolves. Zerg's sudden cursing did not help her confidence either. "Four?! Fucking four?!" "Watch it, shrimp!" "What the hell, Karim?" "Kite them between us- Zerg, just get in hits where you can WITH SKILLS but watch your back. Rana- with me."

As glad as she was to hear them settle down with an updated plan, her eyes never left the boss in front of her. It easily dwarfed the wolves they found before, a fact she'd noticed before, obviously, but hadn't really struck her as to the magnitude until the reality of trying to parry the swipe of a paw larger than her head came crashing down on her. The weight of it easily pushed her back as she tried to parry, landing her flat on her back. Adrenaline alone let her dodge the next massive strike by rolling aside in time. As she scrambled to her feet Ahrina ran through her options. She didn't have a shield and with the Guardian's size blocking would be suicide with her current strength. She could compensate for the weight to parry properly now that she knew what sort of force to expect behind the blow, but getting hit at all would be too big of a risk without testing it first. But how to actually do damage? If she only went on the defensive and waited for the party, that raised the risk of tripping up or miscalculating, and there were no guarantees that they would be able to help quickly at all.

The zone was clear- the clearing was bare of the rocks and bushes plentiful outside of it, and the only trees were surrounding them in an incomplete ring. There was a cliff far to the right overlooking where the boss had lain, but no other structures were in sight. Ahrina scrambled back from another lunge, careful to lead the boss away from where she heard her party struggling. Maybe she could use that... the previous wolves' AI updated after long enough, but if she switched it up, she should be able to trick it into getting stunned long enough to fight back safely.

Pushing another swipe of claws away from her face by side stepping for extra force, she turned tail and ran straight backwards. Howlong in full force of the hunt, the [Forest Guardian] barreled after her blindly, clearly furious at the thought of her escape. It caught up quickly and made a full force lunge at her back, only to hit the face of the cliff head on.

Ahrina took note of the decent decrease in the first health bar from the force of the hit itself and quickly ran through the sword skills she'd acquired, unleashing a Reaver across the broad back and then an Uppercut to the back of the stunned beast's head. A sudden shake of back paws served as a warning stopping her from trying another as the [Forest Guardian] regained its footing onto its massive haunches. All in all that had taken a good half bar down from the wolf. 5 more hits that way and they'd be golden- provided it didn't catch on.

"Ahri- you good?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me. How are the adds?"

"Got one down, its harder with more to worry about."

"Just focus on that then, I'll let you know how the boss' health is doing."

"Keep it up!"

The [Forest Guardian] looked enraged by the damage it took- good. Well, not _good _exactly, since it decided attacking faster was a good idea... but at least it was fighting a bit more recklessly. That, she could use. Well. That, she'd like to use, provided she could live through it.

"Two down!"

Ahrina threw herself to the side avoiding a particularly vicious lunge. It wiffed by her, the feeling of sudden wind against her skin a minor distraction she only wished she had time to appreciate properly. It really was an odd feeling to be this... active. Ahrina ducked under another swipe, knowing easily that if this fight were in the real world she would be soaked in sweat and out of energy long ago.

She'd still be fighting, of course, but not nearly as effectively. In this avatar her stamina was based on her mind and her will, not the protest of muscles atrophying from disuse. In this world, it didn't matter if the last time she'd run a mile was high school. All that mattered was reaction time and knowing what action you wanted to do- whether you could do it or not was down to stats and skills instead of the body. And honestly, that was just as she'd like it.

Suddenly Ramses was there beside her, unleashing a Slant at the beast's side as it swiped toward Ahrina again. It howled in anger and switched targets, but Callous was there to parry the blow with his broadsword while she recovered from the system delay. "Welcome to the party- glad you finished your chores."

Zerg laughed and stabbed the guardian repeatedly, guarded by Ramses. "Yeah, mom and dad here wouldn't let me play till we took out the trash."

Ahrina took a moment as a breather, watching them wittle away at the boss' hp. They really did work together well. It was clear this wasn't their first MMO together, or even VR.

"Yeah? Maybe I should let you stick around by yourself then for a little free time."

"No thanks! I've got a few puppies to play with and they should be here... any... second..." As the first health bar depleted to zero the great wolf jumped back and howled again, quickly answered by another chorus. Ahrina stood in front of the guardian, once again alone as the trio went off to face the members of the pack.

"Still four! Same plan. Rana, use a pot."

The [Forest Guardian] had calmed down again, likely due to the reinforcements. Back to the plan, then. She stood her ground, dodging swiped and lunges by narrower margins until she had the wolf's complete attention. As the lunges became more frequent she waited for one to miss completely before running full speed to the cliff again. It ran after her predictably with a furious howl and crashed into the wall again full force. Ahrina hit it with everything she had in the narrow window of time, aiming everything at the exposed nape of the neck. The health dropped dramatically to around 40% of the second bar, marking the fight half way over.

"Three!" Callous called back at nearly the same time. The [Forest Guardian] recovered quickly and entered its enraged state again, this time even faster than before. Ahrina could barely keep up with the quickened blows, only managing due to guessing in advance the likeliest of targets. She was nearly falling over herself to stay out of range. This... was not something she could deal with for long, and if it was even worse next time, there was no way she could dodge forever. "Two!" They were getting faster at this, but Ahrina had no time to appreciate their haste, even if it had technically been her fault for setting off the boss' buff earlier than before. Her bones started to feel like jelly as she threw herself left and right so frequently that she barely had a stable balance standing straight at all.

The second Calloud stepped in front of her, Ahrina collapsed back at the edge of the clearing, forcing herself to breathe slowly to clear her head. Images flashed in front of her eyes of the land in front of her at nauseating angles, and she shut her eyes forcefully to try to regain control of her equilibrium. Laughing suddenly, she shouted to the party, "I think I'm sea sick!" in response to Callous' worried, half heard question.

"Is that all? You'll never be a pirate at this rate, land lubber! Where are your sea legs?"

"The hell?"

"Well, hurry it up, we're almost ready for the next adds."

Forcing herself to her feet, Ahrina could feel her stomach flip and settle slowly as she took more calming breaths and felt the solid ground beneath her. They had the second health bar down to a mere sliver and it was obvious she didn't have any more time to spare. She readied her cutlass and took a solid stance in front of the wolf as it jumped back to call for the rest of the pack. Ready or not, this was the last stage. All she had to do was keep up with the blows and keep it distracted until they could come finish it off. After that, she could take a nice long break inside a city surrounded by man made walls and never venture out into wolf land again. Yeah, that sounded nice. Maybe an inn would have some tea? With honey? That sounded nice. Ahrina fought almost entirely on auto pilot, her head still half in a daze from earlier.

She couldn't afford to ignore her opponent for long, and as soon as she heard Callous call out "Three!" she decided it was time to do her part for the boss' health once again. She jumped to the side and chugged a potion as a safety measure for the inevitable counter attack before beginning to bait the guardian again. She let it get closer and closer to her before dashing away again in the opposite direction, and it followed well, leaping after her.

Just as she reached the cliff again, Ahrina jumped right suddenly, following the same pattern that had worked the past two times. Only... this time she didn't hear the thump of fur on stone- that silence was her only warning before teeth ripped into the flesh of her shoulder. It was as if all of her nerves suddenly caught on fire at once before being replaced by a dull but throbbing pressure. She could feel sharp claws dig into the leather curiass protecting her back as she was batted away by the gigantic paw like a rag doll. She could feel her body bounce twice on the dirt before settling immobile. Strange. She really could feel it, but the pain was... off... somehow... Like she knew what was happening and her brain wanted to stop it, but she only felt intense pressure in the area instead of the burning intensity of a gaping wound. Oh. Blinking her eyes slowly, she saw the system overlay again with her health drastically in the red. It was a game. For a moment, caught in the heat of battle, she'd honestly forgotten that she wasn't really fighting a dire wolf in the middle of a nearby forest. Though, for all intents and purposes, that was exactly what was happening... Shaking her head, she also couldn't allow herself to think that. No matter the world, life or death was life or death until someone proved otherwise beyond the shadow of a doubt. And now that same dire wolf that had done so much damage to her was going after the people she had been fighting to protect.

This absolute certainty in her mind, Ahrina flipped onto her feet from the floor and drank another potion. The first had helped a little, along with her battle healing, and she could see her health bar slowly filling up again. However, unless it reached full and fast, she wouldn't be able to take another hit like that anyway. At the same time, waiting wasn't an option. It would take too long, and she wouldn't leave her companions to struggle against the current... three opponents on their own.

"Oi! I'm still alive you dumb mutt!" She taunted, unleashing a Reaver across the boss' backside. Callous was more than a little relieved to see her up again.

"Hey, no playing dead during boss fights- raiding 101. Ramses, Zerg, take care of the other two." They nodded and went off on his orders without hesitation. Callous and Ahrina worked to kite the boss between them. If they stayed apart it could only attack one at once. The trick was staying just close enough to cover each other during the counter attack. Ramses and Zerg finished off the other two quickly enough, but as soon as there was only half a bar left two more wolves dashed into the fray from just outside the clearing, keeping them further occupied. Fighting with someone else was a great relief after facing it alone.

Getting into a steady rhythm of battle again, the boss' health was slowly whittled down lower and lower until it was barely visible above the [Forest Guardian]'s head. Yet- instead of feeling triumph, Ahrina just became more and more aware of a strange feeling, like she was being watched by some hidden camera.

"Go Callous! Finish it already!"

"Get it!"

As Callous was readying his last sword skill, Ahrina saw a flash in the corner of her eye and jumped forward on instinct. A sudden impact tore into her back as she herself drove her sword into the unprotected flank of the wolf, shattering it in an explosion of glittering pixels that filled the air of the clearing.

"Aw, man. I was so close, too! Why'd you have to go and block it like that, man? I could've had it so easily."

Ramses and Zerg worked to finish off their last wolf as a stranger lazily dropped down from the tree branches, clearly disappointed.

"Did you get it, huh Callous? Did you- wait, who's he?"

Ramses stopped Zerg in his path and glared at the newcomer, easily taking in the situation. She stomped up to Ahrina and tore the throwing knife from her back, clearly furious. "Scavenger scum. This boss is ours. Let that orange be the least you deserve."

"Orange? The hell are you on about?"

"Your cursor, jackass. You attacked another player outside of a duel and now everyone who sees you will know it. Good luck living through the first mob who wants to stop a PK in the making."

"PK? The fuck, man! I just wanted an easy steal- you can't blame me for trying to get ahead."

"You were just going to take the kill? That's cheating! We spent so long fighting here, you jerk!"

"Ramses, Zerg. We're done here. He'll get what he deserves soon enough. Let's just go back to town." Callous turned to Ahrina next with a bitter smile. "Good fight. I would've liked to get the last hit myself, but better you than a coward." He sent a friend request, quickly followed by one from Zerg. "Getting a level out of this wasn't too shabby and we probably couldn't have fought it at our level without you in any case. Let's group again some time. Later."

"Yeah, later. Guess you aren't too bad. Unlike some losers." Zerg stuck his tongue out at the stranger.

Ramses was clearly still pissed, but seemed willing to go along with her brother as he tried to diffuse the situation. "Fine. Thanks for coming, Chronicler. I hope this was a worthy story for you." Taking that as a goodbye, the trio headed off into the forest, turning around only to shoot another hateful glare.

"So... leaving me alone with someone who just stabbed me in the back. What a party, ne?" Ahrina joked to fill the awkward silence as they disappeared from sight and was met with a good natured snicker.

"Now that's the spirit! Here I thought you might be mad at me."

"Me? Angry? Whatever for? It's not like you tried to take all the credit for an accomplishment I almost died for or anything."

"So... a little?"

"Just a bit." She held out her hand with a shrug. "I'm Ahrina the Chronicler, and I wouldn't try that again."

"Amaranth. You mean the stabbing or the stealing? 'Cause I can't really make any guarantees about the latter."

"How about the stabbing first, and if you try the latter again to me in particular I'll consider that the same as volunteering as a lab rat to help me research the regeneration rate of non essential body parts."

"Right! Ah... ha... No filching from the chrone then!"

"That's Chronicler, flower boy."

"Hey- it wasn't for the flower, I just like the color! It's nice and bright, you know?"

"The... wait- you don't happen to be Nia's friend, do you?"

Suddenly his whole demeanor changed. Instead of the cocky rogue, worry filled his eyes and he looked exhausted. "She's okay? She's here? Fuck. Of all the... Why the hell did she have to follow me..." Definitely a yes then. "Look, I'm sorry about before. Can you take me to her? No bullshit, this is important."

Ahrina quickly sent a message asking [Niallens] to meet them near the gate. "No bullshit. Girlfriend?"

"Worse. Best friend's sister who has a thing for idiot gamers. He's going to kill me if anything happens to her. I don't even care about these mobs- if anyone in here so much as touches her I'm toast."

"Is he here too?"

"I wish... then this would be so much easier. He didn't get a copy, but then Nia won one and said she'd keep it to spend more time with me. A little awkward, you know? I planned to ditch her from the start and then he could take over when she got bored. After the announcement yesterday, I'd been hoping that he might have logged in first instead, just to check."

"Not exactly according to plan, then." She sent him a friend request as they walked, knowing there likely wouldn't be time for it later.

"You're telling me! I don't even know what to do with her. She's a noob, and I play thieves and assassins, you know? It's not like I can be a knight in shining armor to tank for her as she plays healer from the sidelines."

"And you don't look like someone who'd be happy playing NPC with the shop keepers."

"Fuck that, I want to fight!"

They reached the edge of the forest, getting a few strange looks from players they passed. The hills were still swarming with players, and it surprised Ahrina how little time had passed. It had felt like hours fighting the guardian, yet the sun had only moved a little more overhead, marking it as not quite sunset. Ahrina saw a few dirty looks thrown in their direction but thought nothing of it as they reached the gate. Jeez, even the NPC guards seemed to disapprove of something. Or... some... one...

"The stupid orange thing!"

"What stupid orange thing? Oh! The cursor thing the angry chick talked about? Why does that matter?"

"Let me check with someone. For now let's wait out of sight." She brought Amaranth to the empty story she'd asked Nia to meet them by and sent a message to Argo.

["Still alive- all of us. Got last hit. Details later. What does an orange cursor above a player's name mean for the player?"]

The reply came quickly and wasn't unexpected.

["A criminal act of violence between players outside of a duel that doesn't result in death changes the affected player's cursor to orange. Red means PK. Most NPC's won't talk to or sell to orange players and guards will attack Reds on sight. Players won't like seeing someone hurt others this early on- stay out of it if you can. I hope you haven't done anything stupid. Tell them to stay out of sight for three days and it will go away." [Argo]]

["It's [Amaranth], who [Niallens] was looking for. He stabbed me in the back. Literally!"]

Another response came immediately, likely telling her off for cheekiness, but the appearance of a slight woman at the door took priority. She looked around 15, with short curly black hair and a blush across her face.

"N-Nia! Hi..." She flung herself across the room, gripping Amaranth tightly without another word. "H-hey... don't cry... Look, I'm here now, okay? And I'm going to look out for you, like your brother would want. And we'll get out of here, the two of us. Okay?"

"We're all going to get out. Eventually. For now we have a new world to explore together."

Nia realized they weren't alone and pushed herself back away from him, blushing harder. "Thank you very much for finding him for me! I hope it wasn't much trouble. I honestly don't know what I would have done without-" She checked him name quickly. "Amaranth, but I didn't actually expect you to be able to help, let alone so quickly. If there is anything I can do for you in return, please only ask." She bowed again formally, her motions matching her proper speech.

"I'll be sure to. For now I'm just glad I... ran into... him. I'll leave the two of you alone, but if you want company later I'm holding a meeting at the inn furthest north in an hour or so. Feel free to join us."

Amaranth stopped her as she turned to leave. "Thanks, man. I mean it."

She nodded and left to find another base to work from, sending him a quick message with the information on what being an orange player meant. Discretion involved not bringing it up so suddenly in front of Nia. Soon enough she found an alleyway with a pile of crates to perch on and sit back. If it wasn't one thing it was another... She hadn't gotten to see what the boss battle had given her yet. It was a little late to find a log of exactly what she gained, but she could see her level was clearly four now, leaving her a few skill points to distribute at her leisure. More important was a unique item in her inventory, [Mark of the Forest]. Bringing it to hand she saw it was a wolf tooth necklace with strange white wooden beads around it. [Doubles experience gained from beast type monsters while equipped]. A permanent experience increase? Lucky! That would certainly give her an advantage while leveling. Grinding would be a lot easier provided the mobs for her level were "beastly" at all later on, and it would be useful well into later levels. No wonder Callous had wanted it so badly. Oh well. Hers now. She should let Argo know how the fight really went though.

[[Forest Guardian] dropped [Mark of the Forest] necklace doubling xp from beast mobs. Unlike beta, 4 wolf adds aggro'd at each of 3 life bars and an extra 2 at last half bar. Appeared enraged and attacks faster when enough damage is done. Hits HARD. [Amaranth] tried to "scavenge" last hit of boss kill, hit me instead. Forest now full of players."]

That should do for a report. In the meantime, it had been a few hours since she had checked her mail. Two messages were just hate mail telling her optimists would be the first to die and to go fuck a boar. Lovely. Others were more supportive, one person giving the names of his real life friends, who planned to make a guild together "Fuurinkazan" to be formed when they found the NPC for it. Another talked about a waitress quest that would start if you went to the largest inn and talked to the manager in the back. Ramses apologized for being the reason they left so suddenly and not so subtly asked the name of the "filthy vulture scum" and if she'd gotten him back yet. That... could certainly wait. For now she had a brief break in silence before she had to deal with pretending to be social again for the meeting.


End file.
